The Rollercoaster Ride (The Life of an Exchange Student)

I am having the time of my life here.  I am seeing unbelievable things.  My school is a castle.  My family are saints.  My friends come from every corner of the world.  I have learned more than I thought was possible in less than three months.  Yet every once and I while, I feel like I would give anything just to see my friends and family from home.  This week has been like that for me.  It’s always a combination of events that stirs up my feelings of homesickness.  I have been doing Christmas shopping, I found out I won’t have my soccer licence before my season finishes, it is only one month before I move on to my second family, it was my one year anniversary with Branden, and, I had a head cold.  The week was a test for me, a challenge to pull myself together and to remember to love this beautiful life I’m living.  Sometimes I feel as though I am not my whole self here.  Like some part of me is distracted and stuck back in Canada.  These are the days when I’m most homesick.  However, these days don’t occur often anymore.  Nothing like my first month here.  Just every so often, and I have learned to deal with it.  Since Tessin, I have much to tell, and I hope you will enjoy my stories from October! J

School

In school, I actually showed up for my first test (my teachers say I do not need to come to school when we have tests).  My biology class is all practical work with microscopes, so I figured it couldn’t be too bad.  I am not yet sure how it went, (can’t be worse than my physics test when the only mark of the paper was my name!) but I was done approximately an hour before any other student.  I drew wonderfully detailed pictures of what I saw in my microscope, and made some random guesses about what the oddly shaped blobs, dots, and squiggles in my picture might be.  The last question was “explain in detail why…” and then I stopped translating because I knew it was hopeless from there on in.  I’m not giving up, I’m being realistic, I promise.  While I get the gist of things in bio, I certainly am nowhere close to the whole concepts and ideas! I went home early for lunch and slept for about two hours before my next class.

 In sports, if I have understood correctly (good chance I haven’t, but let’s hope I have) gymnastic is finished.  Last week consisted of me missing the matt completely after the trampoline making have my classmates gasp in horror.  Additionally, I attempted a handstand that turns into a somersault, hoping to leave my classmates to ooh-ing and ah-ing.  This went very poorly and was more or less a handstand that turned into a back flop and left me aching and gasping for breath.  For some reason the teacher asked me to be an example for a few things (with much help from her).  I think it was kind of like, “look class, if Steph can do it- so can you!” But I wasn’t all bad.  I mastered a few of the simpler stunts.  However, this week is rugby, and I have a feeling it may be a better fit for my athletic capabilities.

In art class we had an interesting assignment which was a photo-shoot meant to capture “the other side of me”.  I decided to portray myself as a child- always growing, learning, changing, all is new, possibilities are endless, etc.  I was in a group with two other girls and our photo-shoot was by the river at school.  It was a ton of fun, even though I was really sick, and we ended up with hilarious photos.  I felt ridiculous with my hair in French braids at school, but I didn’t care too much.  It was definitely the highlight of my time at school this week.

Stay a child, while you can be a child. Smile, dance, play, sing, dream, learn, and imagine. Never base your actions on what someone else may think of you.

Also, I have been exempt from my English classes!  This is good because I no longer have to fake that I understand the crazy grammatical rules and structures of the unfairly structures English language.  I spend my free periods practicing piano, reading, napping in the sunshine in the vineyard/garden or studying German.  My German is still improving.  I went to my special German classes for exchange students and saw a classmate I haven’t seen since before vacation.  He comes from Italy.  We talked for about ten minutes before he said, “whoa! We are speaking in German!”

 I said, “Yes, I thought you spoke better German than English?”

“We yes, but the last time I saw you only spoke English!”

That was really, super cool.  

Friends from Far and Wide

Last weekend, we had some very interesting guests in our house from the only country more expensive than Switzerland itself.  Iceland. They were two men here part of a large choir performing in an Icelandic festival here.  They both spoke fairly good English, and so for the duration of their stay, we also spoke English at home.  It was the absolute strangest thing to hear Daria speaking English to me.  Not because she isn’t good- she’s incredible, but because we just always speak German to each other.  Anyways, the Icelanders had slightly nocturnal sleeping habits, which meant that I was awake every night until about one in the morning learning about Icelandic history, culture, and language.  It was incredibly interesting.  I didn’t even know where it was on a map until last weekend.  The coolest thing I learned was that people don’t have a last name like we do.  There is no “family name”.  Your last name is your father’s (or sometimes mother’s) first name joined with “son” (English-son) or “dottier” (English-daughter).  So my name would be Stephanie Philipsdottier.  Cool huh?

Last weekend was also very exciting for me because one of my friends from school was turning eighteen and I was invited to her birthday dinner.  About eight girls from my class were there and we had a great meal and played a lot of games.  We played charades (semi-difficult with the language barrier) and then a vocabulary/word game (extremely difficult with the language barrier) but it was still just so nice to be included and spend time with my Swiss friends. 

As interesting and amazing as it is making foreign friendships, sometimes there is just nothing like spending time with someone from home.  One of my best friends here comes from Calgary and we often joke that we were somehow separated at birth.  It funny to think that we come from the same country and have met each other so many miles away.  We spent last Sunday together in Zurich, just talking and catching up since our last Rotary meeting in Luzern ages ago.  We ate bratwurst and buns (the size of full loaves of bread) by the lake and treated ourselves to 100x overpriced Starbucks coffee.  My chai tea latte emptied my wallet, but warmed me up perfectly (it’s getting cold here now) and reminded me fondly of my Daddy’s famous chai tea Sundays.  I showed her my school (sometime I forget how beautiful it is as I walk purposefully from class to class) and she came to my house for dinner.  I showed her my pride and joy which I have created in the last month- a colour coded, perfectly organized, list of 150 German verbs categorized as to how they are conjugated in past tense.  You may think I’m crazy, but she appreciated it with enthusiasm.  I love when people just get me. 

October 24

October 24^th was a very important day for me last year, and I still remember it very well.  I met Branden’s dad for the first time and we went fishing together in Wasaga.  It was a cold and dreary kind of day.  I was having the time of my life.  I had the big tall boots on so I could stand in the river, since my cast was by far the shortest.  I lost my worm with almost every cast and I even managed to get my hook stuck in the trees behind me- twice.  We all had Tim Horton’s coffee and we caught a beautiful little fish- “we” being Branden’s dad.  That morning was when Branden and I started dating.  I came home later that day and had dinner with my family.  We were watching TV when the phone rang.  Chris grabbed the phone but didn’t pick up, he handed to me instead.  I saw the display name and immediately felt my heart begin to race.  I picked up and shakily said hello.  Ralph said to me in a straight-forward tone.  “Stephanie, I am afraid I have some bad news for you.” My heart sunk.  I wasn’t going on exchange.  I hadn’t been chosen for the program.  I mumbled some nonsense about being thankful for being considered when he spoke again.  “You are going to have to spend an entire year away from your family for exchange.” In between ridiculously dramatic sobs of happiness I thanked him many times before making about twenty phone calls. On October 24^th this day I was given two amazing things.  This year, was just a normal Monday afternoon-until a knock on my door came with someone requesting “Stephanie Edmunds”.  An enormous basket of my very favourite flowers (no idea what they are called- but I guess Branden knew!) came with a wonderful card.  Once again, I became an embarrassing puddle of tears, but it was a very special moment.  I see the flowers every day and of reminded of a very special person working in Yellowknife.  Thank you Branden- from across the world you made my day!

Fabulous Swiss Deals- and no, I’m not being sarcastic!

While a Starbucks coffee costs 8Francs, I have now found the best place in the country to spend money (because God knows it burns holes in my pockets).  I have become acquainted with Baden’s Monthly Flea market- and I have fallen in love.  The only problem is- I am often drawn to the things I am not allowed to have.  When I have six pairs of jeans, I am attracted to the jeans section.  When I have three pink tee-shirts, I am suddenly magnetized to a counter of more pink tee shirts.  Here, I have limited space.  I was therefore unfortunately drawn to large woollen clothing items.  I did limit myself however.  My purchases came down to: a large man’s wool sweater, a puffy pink extra-long wool scarf, and fabulously colourful wool socks (they are two different sizes).  ALL FOR 13 FRANCS! I could spend my life’s savings there.  I will one hundred percent be re-visiting next month.  And all of the months after that as well.  Nothing like a good flea market to put homesickness far, far away. 

Wooo for wool! :)

Tomorrow starts a new week and I know it will be a good one.  It gets dark here at about five thirty now, but when the sun shines the trees are all so beautifully coloured and it’s so nice to be outside.  I have been running a lot, and doing crossfit on the farm path just a minute from my house which has been really cool.  And really necessary with the Swiss diet.  I am happy, healthy (well, getting there), and focusing on the good things in my life, which isn’t hard to do when you’re in a place like this! Ps. did you know my year is already approximately ¼ finished? It’s crazy.  I don’t even know what to think about it!

Love always,

Steph

A Week in Tessin

The third and final week of my vacation was spent in the Kanton of Tessin.  This is the Italian-speaking Kanton which is about three hours away from my house by train.  I would like to thank my “Host Aunt and Uncle”, Natalia and Wimi, for allowing me to share in the beauty of their Alp-house, my ``Host cousins” Lydia and Luca, for making me laugh every single day of the week, and Andreas and Daria for including me in their family vacation.  I truly had the time of my life in, yet again, one of the most awe-inspiring places I have ever seen. 

Up, up, up

After one day designated for packing and unpacking, Daria Andreas, and I headed off to Tessin to meet up with our next door neighbours (Andreas’ brother and his family).  After our three hour train ride (which seemed like only a few minutes compared to getting home from Italy) we arrived in Locarno.  The feeling was much different than Zurich, or Bern, but maybe that’s just because everyone spoke Italian.  We hopped in a crowded bus with our backpacks for an hour and a half ride up the mountains.  This “bus” ride could have better been described as an hour and a half long winding and lurching rollercoaster.  I was torn between ideas: (1) not blinking so I wouldn’t miss a second of the stunning rock cliffs that rose on my right and completely dropped to my left, or (2) closing my tightly so that I would not have to watch as the bus missed the corner and went over the terrifying cliff to my left.  The bus honked every time we rounded a corner because a) you couldn’t see what was on the other side, b) a car and the bus can’t fit around the tight corners at once, and c) an attempt to scare of the goats that may be hanging out on the road around the bend.  I so badly wanted a picture of the goats on the road, but I knew I’d just be 10x more tourist-y than I am already.  I was a little bit car sick, and while at home I would have popped a few gravol beforehand (sleep right through the motion sickness), here I was given peppermint spray for my wrists so I could sniff it.  Although I can’t say it cured me entirely, it was definitely helpful.  I am learning a lot about natural medicines in my family.  We got to a little town- can you call it that? Maybe a village…anyways, it consisted of a convenience store and a small café.  From there we walked another hour up the mountain to reach our final destination.

A Little Slice of Heaven

Not our house, but very similar!

Lydia held my hand as we came close to seeing the house.  She said to me, “our house here isn’t very nice.” I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was ecstatic when I saw the house for the first time.  Nestled on top of the hill, in a large area of tall grass, was a little stone house, with tiny windows, a large, old, wooden door, and a big stone table outside.  The view below was of the valley that leads to the lake in Locarno.  Only a few other houses are visible in the distance and all was quiet and calm.  The leaves have just started to begin to change colours, and the air was cool and fresh.  I love fall in midland-  I love fall 100x more in the Alps.  Inside the house were two floors, and a cellar with a small bathroom.  The first level was the kitchen with a wood stove, a sink, a kitchen table, and a couch.  The next floor was the bedroom where all eight of us slept.  This may sound totally unreasonable, but in fact not once in the week did I feel cramped or like I needed space.  This includes the fact that almost every morning I was woken up earlier than desired with two eyes about an inch away from mine and a little voice saying “Guten morgen Shtephanie!” There is no way I can be angry with a face as sweet as Lydia’s. I even managed to not be angry when I was used as her personal punching bag frequently throughout the night. I think sleeping six people on a 27ft boat has taught me a few things about how much personal space is actually needed. 

Life with the Kids

I did a lot of hiking with the kids while I was in the Alps, almost every day we went new places, saw new things, and found new things.  The kids are really great hikers- as long as you aren’t a fan of a maintained, continuous speed.  They seem to like one of two speeds: (1) full-out running, (2) completely stopped.  We stopped to look at (and take pictures of) trees, rocks, sticks, plants, bugs, nuts, leaves, and especially mushrooms.  Luca just loves mushrooms.  Each time we’d see one, he’d stop me and we would go into my backpack for the “Mushroom Dictionary” he insisted I carry, to find out if we could eat it for dinner.  Before we left the house, I unpacked my backpack. It was filled with the strangest assortment of crumbled crackers, animal bones, mushrooms, stones, a stick, a rope, a baby-sized tee-shirt, dirty Kleenexes, and the dictionary.  When at the river, Lydia and Daria were playing the game that little girls always play.   One draws a picture with their finger on the other’s back.  The other has to guess what it is.  I got paired up with Luca, which turned out to be an awfully bad combination.  It was fairly unsuccessful because, a) he can’t draw yet really, b) we don’t speak the same language, c) he enjoys making up his own words, d) he gets frustrated when my only guesses are “house, tree, boat, and cat” (the extent of my vocabulary).  The pairing remained for the walk home, but I was more grateful for it.  While I didn’t know how to sing any of the Swiss-German songs that Daria and Lydia were, making machine gun noises and pointing sticks at imaginary targets is a pretty universal game.  On the most part, I think Lydia and Luca enjoy my company because they like the fact that they know more than I do.  They like to teach me, and I like to learn, so it’s a good combination.  Sometimes I don’t know how to explain myself in German, and so I think I leave them pretty confused.  For example: my hair had been trapped under my hat for the past few days. I was not at all keen on my mass of matted hair making an appearance.  One child tried to take my hat off but I pulled it back on to avoid embarrassment.  I thought of when my mom used to say my hair is a bird’s nest.  However, the translation accidently turned into “I have an animal living in my hair under my hat.” Sometimes it really isn’t my fault people think I’m crazy- the translations just don’t go quite the way I want them to.

I love these people so much

Learning the Moonwalk

Before going to bed one night, Natalia announced that it would be a full moon very late, and that she would be waking up at five o’clock to see it.  “Sure!” I said, thinking I’d love to see the full moon over the mountains. What I didn’t realize however, was that the ideas in our minds were very contrasting.  I, had pictured a 15 minute break from my beloved sleep to watch the moon, then hop right back into cosiness for the rest of the night.  Yes, 5 o’clock am is still night-time.  But, as I listened to the conversation more, I realized what I had agreed to.  At five o’clock the next morning, an ironically joyful alarm bell sounded through the bedroom and everyone began to put on their clothes for the day. Emerging from my warmth and happiness, I put on two pairs of pants, a tee shirt, two sweaters, and my Canada gloves.  I didn’t say a word as I went downstairs and crankily tied my hiking boots.  My mom and I have always tried to decide if I am, or am not a morning person.  I have always gotten to school for first class, willing gone to early soccer practices, and I loved the first shift of work at the marina.  Despite all of these facts, mom I have found an answer to the question: I am not a morning person.  I turned into the youngest kid in the group.  The moon was unbelievably wonderful, silver, and brighter than I have ever seen.  As we began to walk I would have just as well enjoyed seeing it through the bedroom window.  However, after about an hour and a half, we came to the top of the hill.  I was cold, and grumpy, but there was no denying the remarkable view.  The sun began to rise over Locarno with vibrant colours and the silvery moon slipped away behind the mountain peaks.  It was a combination of this view, the cheese sandwich and hot chocolate that made me finally able to grow up and realize how lucky I was to be seeing such an amazing point in the day.  The rest of the day was more than enjoyable, with tons of hiking, and relaxing in the most beautiful of rest stops.  We stopped at a little restaurant for dinner, where the owners knew everyone’s names and offered us more after our plates were licked clean.  Worth way more than a few hours of sleep ever will be. 

All worth while

And I thought I knew cold…

Another hike was with Andreas and the kids to a river an hour away.  The hike was steep downhill all the way (I didn’t want to think of coming back up) until we came to the river valley.  Instantly, the temperature dropped from the cold river, even though it was still many feet below.  We unpacked our things, and I got into my bathing suit.  I was craving a shower, and I figured nothing could be as bad as Georgian Bay in April.  I was wrong.  I had already rubbed the soap all over my body when I went in up to my knees.  My toes instantly went numb.  Without hesitating, I went all the way under to get it done and over with.  Horrible.  It actually hurt! I didn’t know cold could hurt.  I was clean, but chilled.  I was also surprised.  Georgian Bay has nothing on the mountain rivers. 

All in All

In this week I saw so many new things and had a completely awesome time.  We played games late into the night, had the best meals I have had here so far, relaxed, hiked, and laughed.  If there is one place I’d go when I return to Switzerland in the future- it’s there. 

    

Swiss-Italian border

Sorry this blog took a while to write, life’s been crazy getting back into the swing of school and trying to organize two weeks’ worth of suitcase contents strewn carelessly on my bedroom floor.  I hope that everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving- I am thinking of all of you.

Love,

Stephanie

Toscana

On the Beach



Tower of Pisa!



Yoga Session



Pisa



Siena

For the first half of fall holidays I was lucky enough to be brought along with Barbara and Daria for a week of wonderfulness in Tuscany, Italy. 

Pisa

Our week started out with a lot of train rides until our first destination- Pisa.  We stepped out of the train in our sweaters and long pants and were immediately far too warm.  We’d left in the cool autumn air and arrived in the hot humidity of Italy.  I was more than happy.  We checked into our hotel and decided to take a little walk around the city and do a bit of shopping.  My eyes were locked, gazing longingly into a leather store when Barbara said “Hey, look!”  And practically right down the street was already the leaning tower of Pisa itself.  One time my mom spent an extremely long time making a three tiered cake covered in white fondant.  It was extremely beautiful until overnight it decided that it didn’t feel like standing straight and all slid to one side.  That is what the tower looked like over the building of the main street. Gorgeous, white, and wildly slanted.  When we came to the foot of the tower it was even more stunning.  We went into the church which was enormous. Daria and I were wearing tank tops and so had to wear these blue, paper ponchos that covered down past my knees- it was quite the look! Barbara even managed to get us tickets to climb the tower. I was ecstatic! It was terrifying climbing up, I thought every step I was going to slip on the smooth, slippery, and slanted marble stairs.  We got to the top of the tower just in time to watch the warm Toscana sun sinking over the dome of the baptism church.  I could have stayed there for ages.  We dined on pizza down the street and I remembered how much I love Italy- with all my heart.  The next day, before leaving for Caseglione we had Cappuccinos right beside the tower with chocolate croissants. 

Caseglione

Hours later, after a lunch of olive bread and fresh fruit, we arrived at our main destination.  A little city called Caseglione.  We were staying in a cabin in a forested campground an hour’s walk from the town.  Our cabin was adorable, two bedrooms, a kitchenette, and a small bathroom.  It was plenty of room for the three of us to live for the next five days- especially because we were almost never inside.  Three minutes from our cabin was the beach.  It was the kind of beach that you see in movies, gentle, rolling waves, bright blue, endless sea, white sand, beach volleyball everywhere, and lots of people.  If I could live there someday- I would.  On the beach I mean- in a tent or something.  I was totally in my element.  The other very special thing about this place at this time of year is that it is ALL Swiss people.  The Swiss are the only ones who have a holiday now, and so they all seem to end up in the same prime vacation spots.  When an Italian person would walk by it would be like, “oh cool, an Italian!” Even though we were in Italy. It was interesting to hear all of the different Swiss- German from the different Kantons dialects (Barbara and Daria could tell where each family was from).  My family never ceases to amaze me here with languages- I just feel so inept.  Daria studies Greek, Italian, French, English, German, and Latin (I think that’s all of them), and Barbara is about the same.  They can pretty much understand whoever walks by, no matter where they come from, and it has made me realize just how helpful it is to have so much knowledge of language.  I was just proud of myself when I could talk about the Americans sitting beside us on the train in German and know for a fact they didn’t have a clue. 

Beach Volleyball

Whenever I have been at eh beach and seen people playing volleyball, I have always wanted to join.  I see myself flying through the air to save the ball from hitting the ground, I picture the satisfying thud as I smash the ball straight down over the net and it sinks into the sand, and I see myself serving the ball so powerfully the other team is afraid to touch it. Now I pick up the volleyball, volley it once and it goes behind me.  I bump and I groan as it goes flying into the water.  My skill lever has never quite matched the way I play in my imagination, but I decided that I would try anyways.  The first night when I was playing with Daria, I ran to get the ball, stepped on a shell and cut the bottom of my foot open. This should have been the sign for me to give up, but I didn’t.  The next day, we were playing a game with a bunch of other people from the beach.  Within the first five minutes, someone from the other side went for a hit.  I jumped up to block, thinking I had it nailed, but my hand was misplaced.  The ball connected with my right thumb, and I think my thumb ended up somewhere back by my wrist.  For next few plays, I avoided volleys completely, before I finally realized it was only beach volleyball and I was by far the worst on my team (not improved with a throbbing hand).  I left and looked at my hand to see that my palm was blown up like a balloon and I had no movement in my thumb.  So much for my volleyball career.  It got better in the next days, but volleyball and I probably won’t rekindle our relationship in the near future. 

RUN

In lieu of volleyball, I decided that I would run every single day on the beach.  I surprisingly kept to my word.  I ran every day between 30 and 45 minutes along the shoreline.  The things I love most are my florescent sports bras, bare feet, and my iPod.  Running incorporated all of them.  It’s the first time I have left a beach with a tan of a sports bra and soccer shorts instead of a bikini. I made a few really great playlists and was ready for some exercise.  Each day my legs burned from the soft sand, but I always felt so good after.  One thing I discovered about my running style is that I run how I sing.  To clarify what this means, I will give you a scenario:  a song comes on the radio.  I say, “Oh yes! I love this one!” I turn it up.  Within the first thirty seconds I turn it a little louder so that other people won’t realize i have to mumble the lyrics through the entire first verses. Now the chorus comes and I sing my heart out, because it’s the first time I actually know the words.  I have noticed that I run pretty normally during verses, boring bridges, and unimpressive instrumental solos.  However- give me a chorus with words I know and my body gets a burst of energy and I’m flying along the beach.  I must look pretty hilarious jogging, then suddenly exploding with speed and lots of head-bobbing and word-mouthing.  I also realized (when my headphones fell out) then when you mouth the words to a rap song, and breathe heavily from exercise at the same time it sounds like you are having a quite exhaustingly intense conversation with yourself.  Yet another reason why I must look crazy to the people I pass by in a day. 

Dinner- Italiano Style
Being in Italy, we cooked Italian food every night, so I was practically in heaven. Gnocchi, risotto, spaghetti, penne, and lots of vegetables with olive oil.  So delicious.  As soon as the sun went down at 19.00 every day, the temperature dropped immediately.  It was perfect for putting on track pants and a sweater to enjoy hot pasta on our porch.  We always ended the day with cookies and tea.  I was by far the biggest party pooper in the family- there is was not one exception to the tradition of me being first to bed, last one awake.  However, I always felt great during the day, and had tons of energy for….

Beach School

A really cool idea Barbara had was to give me a theme every day to work on at the beach.  Each day I learned a new part of German grammar or vocabulary, or reading, ect.  Now if someone had asked me to study English, or history, of chemistry on the beach every day I’d be furious.  However, I was more than willing to do this.  It’s amazing the motivation that occurs when you don’t understand a thing going on around you with people your age.  I figure the better, and faster I learn my High German, the soon I can start to even consider learning Swiss German.  I spent one day sorting ninety verbs into categories of past tense spelling rules.  As frustrating as this was, I now notice some major changes in my speech. For example: my stories are now capable of being in the past tense.  Until now my speech sounded something like “Yesterday, I am running and I see a cow.” Talk about grammatically incorrect.  That is now slightly better, although there are many rules I still screw up. I have also now started to make a better attempt to remember my genders.  In German, there are three “genders” for all words: feminine, masculine, and neutral (der, die, and das).  So, whenever I learn a new noun, I must also remember which gender it falls under.  Before, I just made everything neutral to try to be gender-fair.  It’s definitely hard, and I get it wrong a lot, but I am trying!

Beach Yoga

On one of the first nights, we made sure we stayed at the beach long enough to see the sunset.  Daria had the idea of taking some yoga pictures.  It started out as just Barbara doing some stretches and it looked really nice in the lighting.  As the sun fell deeper in the sky, the yoga got more intense.  Both Barbara were head standing, hand standing, and stretching in ways that made my body warn me not to try it as I took the pictures.  However, as I never miss a photo opportunity, I decided to try a few of the poses.  And I actually could do some of it! I was able to hold a headstand for a long time (once- the rest of the time consisted of Daria and Barbara trying to get a decent photo before “thud!” I’d toppled over in one direction or another).  We all got some really great shots, and believe it or not, this is me below.  Yes Mom and Dad, me Stephanie.  Exhibiting the first ever witnessed possibility that gracefulness and flexibility exist somewhere within me.  Sorry you weren’t here to share the moment. 

Beach Shopping

As peaceful as the beach was, you couldn’t go five minutes without hearing the calls of the sales people “Cheap, cheap, beautiful dresses, bracelets, sunglasses.  For you today, almost free!”  I often didn’t understand, because they were constantly rotating their languages from French, to German, to Italian.  Barbara is very good in Italian, and so that was what I heard most when we were talking to them.  I was fully determined to leave the beach with no new, bad quality, overpriced clothing that I don’t need.  Therefore, I was happy when I left with only a dress, a long sleeve, a scarf, and a headband.  I just can’t help myself when shopping comes right up and displays itself on my beach towel.  Totally impossible to ignore.  One particular man from India was selling name bracelets.  He asked my name, and I told him it was “Steph”.  I got the ever familiar blank look that clearly says “where is the rest of the name?” He said “Okay….Sh-toh-ff, and started to look through his bead box wondering hopelessly how such a name was spelt.  It’s funny how such a normal Canadian name can cause such confusion in a foreign country.  Barbara and I were laughing and it is now my new nickname around the house. 

Siena

On our way home we stayed one night in Siena.  It is totally different than Pisa. It is darker, and older, but beautiful all the same.  We had dinner right in the Piazza del Campo and walked around the beautiful shops.  The next day we climbed the tower and shopped some more.  We ate our last Gelatos (which I will dream about for quite some time), had our last chocolate croissants, and boarded the train for home.  Daria and I had one hour to run through Florence and see the church, before our final trains to Milan, then Zurich.  Although we were on a train that hit 300km/h, it was still a very long trip home.  At the beginning of the day I didn’t want to leave, but by the end I was so happy to be home. 

Tomorrow it’s off to Tessin!

Happy thanksgiving everyone <3 !

Gelato

Our Cabin!